Hearses and car-pools

Q. Is a hearse with a driver and a deceased person in the back allowed to be in the car-pool lane? I saw a hearse last month and only the driver was in the front!

- Scott Snyder, Mission Viejo

A. This issue played out in a court case years ago, after a pregnant woman contended she and her yet-born should be allowed in car-pool lanes without any other passenger.

"It has to be a living, breathing person,'' says officer Stacy Willits, a department spokeswoman for the California Highway Patrol.

So, no, ol' Uncle Charlie in the back doesn't give the hearse driver a free pass.

Q. I often see pickup trucks driving on our freeways with scaffolding that is incredibly high and stuff stacked to the top. It seems like the height reaches 10 feet or more. This looks like it is incredibly dangerous yet, as common a sight as it is, I have never seen one pulled over. What, if any, are the laws regarding this?

- Bill Richardson, Laguna Niguel

A. Junk - ah, stuff - can't be stacked more than 14 feet up, starting from the pavement. Of course, any load must be safely strapped down.

There is an exception under state law: stuff can poke up higher than 14 feet on a double-decker bus. Presumably, that stuff would only be heads.

Q. What is the obligation of cities to paint the curb with the color to match the posted sign? My story: I went to visit my friends in Santa Ana. I pulled up at night in the usual spot. I came out and discovered a parking ticket. Looking around in bewilderment, I discovered that the signs had been changed to, "No Stopping," but the curbs were still unpainted. The officer was just doing his job. But it sure feels like entrapment.

- Lukas Sydo, Orange

A. In California, cities have the option of painting the curb red or putting up no-parking signs.

First, on a sign you can prohibit parking for just part of the time - say once a week for several hours so the street-sweeper can rake the roadway clean. Also, he says, the cost is less for signs - which sounds wacky at first blush.

But signs will last, say, 15 years, while cities might have to trot out a painting crew every year to keep the curbs red.

Sometimes, "if people just aren't getting it,'' as Mahood puts it, a city will both put up a sign and paint the curb.

Fact of the week: The state Senate has passed a bill that would outlaw drivers under age 18 from using cell phones while driving. The Assembly is expected to consider it this summer.

A citation would only cost a first-time offender $20, though, and $50 for subsequent violations.

Still, here's hoping the bill becomes law before Honk's two chatty girls grow up and settle in behind the wheel.

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